Ukraine PM: Crimea conflict enters military stage

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk addresses parliament in Kiev March 11, 2014. Ukraine's parliament on Tuesday warned the regional assembly in Crimea, which is now controlled by pro-Russia forces, that it faces dissolution unless it cancels a referendum it has called to join the region to Russia. REUTERS/Alex Kuzmin (UKRAINE - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST)

KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said on Tuesday that the conflict in its Crimea peninsula, now under Russian control, had entered a military phase and accused Russia of committing a "war crime" by firing on Ukrainian servicemen.

"The conflict is moving from a political one to a military one because of Russian soldiers," he told a meeting at Ukraine's defense ministry. "Today, Russian soldiers began shooting at Ukrainian servicemen and this is a war crime without any expiry under a statute of limitations."

Yatseniuk said he had ordered Ukraine's defense minister to call a meeting with his counterparts from Britain, France, and Russia - signatories to a 1994 treaty guaranteeing Ukraine's borders to "prevent an escalation of the conflict".

Earlier, a military spokesman said a Ukrainian officer was wounded in a shooting at a military facility on the outskirts of the Crimean capital Simferopol, but it was unclear who was behind the incident.